#madpriest

A mourner must have felt his cheeks burning after his phone went off during a funeral. But when the ringtone that echoed round the church was Staying Alive by the Bee Gees, it is fair to say he wished the earth could have swallowed him up. Now Reverend Martin Morgan from St Margaret’s Church in Rottingdean has urged parishioners to make sure earthly communications are switched off while their thoughts turn to heavenly matters. “It took a while before people realised what the song was and then fortunately most people found it quite funny. The culprit looked very embarrassed. I think they probably looked in the other direction and tried to pretend it wasn’t them. That’s what people usually do.”

Now that Undercover Nun has recovered from her fit of giggles (Stayin' Alive! HEEheeheehee!!!), I'll say that I was impressed by the best example of a turn-off request I ever saw.  The usual reaction I see to a turn-off reminder is maybe 25% of people checking their phones and the rest ignoring it.  But this time, I was in a courtroom when the trustee gave us the reminder, and then took her own cell phone out of her purse and checked it.  On seeing her do this, every person in the room went looking for theirs.